03.05.2022

Leaseurope celebrates 50th anniversary

Leaseurope is very pleased to announce that this year we are celebrating fifty years of representing and serving the industry. This is a significant milestone for our Federation, our members, as well as for the leasing and automotive rental community across Europe.

The European Federation of Leasing Company Associations was founded in 1972. There were 13 founding Member Associations of Leaseurope that represented the equipment leasing associations from: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Since April 2006, Leaseurope has been an umbrella body representing both the leasing and automotive rental industries in Europe.

The goal of the founding members was to be able to meet with practitioners from around Europe to share best practices and market information in a sector that was relatively new. Additionally, Leaseurope was a vehicle to promote the leasing product and make European policymakers aware of the benefits of leasing. Since then, the industry and our Federation have grown significantly.

Today, Leaseurope represents 43 member associations across 31 countries, bringing together national associations throughout Europe representing bank-owned, captives and independent lessors as well as long and short-term automotive rental companies. The scope of products covered ranges from hire purchase and finance leases to operating leases of all asset types (automotive, equipment and real estate) and also includes the rental of cars, vans and trucks.

Patrick Beselaere, Chair of Leaseurope

“As the voice of the leasing and automotive rental industry in Europe, Leaseurope has been very active over the last fifty years in representing and promoting the industry across a wide range of policy issues, publishing valuable insights on our sector, and providing a platform for our expansive network to share and collaborate. We would like to thank all the member associations, Board members and industry experts who have so generously contributed to the work of the Federation over the years. We plan to celebrate this milestone anniversary with our members and the wider industry at our annual convention, taking place on 6 & 7 October 2022 in Cascais, Portugal. This will not be one you want to miss, we hope to see you there!”